Review: XCOM 2

XCOM 2 is not a game for those who think about what’s going on in a single instance. Everyone will need to think three turns ahead in every aspect of the campaign, and even then, it’s mostly about luck, creating an incredibly random experience in the process. Even from the beginning, players believing they’ll be able to keep everyone alive will run into a harsh reality check, whether they’re on the easiest or hardest difficulty settings. It’s not primarily the combat that can be difficult though, it’s the world management that can be a bit stressful. Similar to Enemy Unknown, there’s a time component to XCOM 2, ensuring you don’t take your sweet time to level up characters and accept every side mission that becomes available. There will be crucial choices to be made, but instead of ruining reputations based on countries and risking resources, these are classified as larger reaching outcomes to alien progression in the world. There’s so many systems at play that anyone could easily see themselves overwhelmed, and it doesn’t help that there’s an unfortunate lack of explanation on the various mechanics.


Regardless of how victorious players were in XCOM: Enemy Unknown , Firaxis SLG PC Games continued down a canon storyline with XCOM 2 that assumed players had ultimately lost the fight against the technologically superior alien invaders. This more or less sets the tone for the new War of the Chosen expansion: there are some fights you just can't win, and the impressively deep expansion pack for XCOM 2 piles on the signature pain that strategy fans have come to embrace in almost masochistic fash


However, it's not just the new Chosen enemies and a few new ADVENT enemy types that these soldiers will be facing. Missions in abandoned cities are frequently overwhelmed with swarms of The Lost, a zombie-like enemy that attacks both XCOM and ADVENT forces upon sight. Any explosions in the map trigger a new swarm of these monsters, and pandemonium can quickly reign as they attack friend and foe al

The story takes place decades after the XCOM: Enemy Unknown with the cannon conclusion being the so called "bad" ending. Humanity, as one would expect, suffered an unmeasurable loss being that it was unable to stop the alien invasion and has since been taken over, but not necessarily to the degree a lot of fiction tends to lean towards. This isn’t aliens downright enslaving humanity, but instead helping it off the ground by introducing new and improved technology, among other things. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though, as there are always conspiracies, and being an alien force, their intentions aren’t entirely for humanity’s sake. We liken them towards Nazis in that it’s a far more controlled and brutal way of ruling where, if someone steps out of line, they won’t hesitate to end them, whereas if you’re contributing member of society, they will leave you alone for the most part. They also don’t really have much of a regard for human rights or casualties where they’re willing to experiment on people without any regard for their wellbeing. Because of this new line of dictatorship from the alien invaders, there is a rebellion that has formed. Unfortunately, the sect you become a part of is small, very small, so it’s difficult to make a meaningful impact like you did in the original game. Your resources are limited, your time is short and your man power is usually understaffed. It’s a grueling situation, and for that, the story feels far more intriguing as you progress.


While Enemy Unknown 's basic gameplay loop saw players taking uneasy steps into hostile territory, unsure of ambushes, it's the player who now stalks their alien prey. Squad members can be led, one by one, up to the very fringe of monitored areas. From there, it's possible to identify secondary targets or assets (now a core layer of the mission objectives), and surround enemy troops and traitors before they know what's about to hit them. And when it hits them... it's glori

The core XCOM 2 gameplay, at least for those who have played Enemy Unknown, remains mostly intact. This is still a third person, isometric strategy shooter that focuses on dice rolls each turn to determine the outcome of battle. There are times when things will go in the player’s favor, and then there are times when it goes the complete opposite direction. This can be a random experience, and most of the time it becomes very stressful. Unless you save scum all the way through the campaign, the chances of surviving every battle with no casualties is highly unlikely. That problem derives mainly from some occasional confusing hit percentages and reactions. There’s nothing like seeing a soldier stand two feet in front of an enemy with a gatling gun and shoot through the unfazed alien with a big failure text pop up taunting you. At the very least there should be more animations showing the opponents dodging your bullets, not just standing there clueless.